April 17, 2018
BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- After claiming team titles at each of the last two meets, the Western Washington University track & field program travels to California to compete Wednesday through Saturday at the Azusa Pacific University Bryan Clay Invitational and Long Beach State University Beach Invitational.
The Bryan Clay Invitational will take place Wednesday through Friday at Cougar Athletic Stadium in Azusa, California. Multi-events are held Wednesday and Thursday while all other events are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The Beach Invitational begins Friday with events split between Friday and Saturday at Jack Rose Track in Long Beach, California.
The two meets are the third and fourth meets of the month for WWU, following the WWU Team Invitational (April 6) and Saint Martin's University Jay Hammer Meet (April 14). WWU returns home at the end of the month to host the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet on April 28 at Civic Stadium.
Bryan Clay Invitational
The Bryan Clay Invitational Multi (decathlon and heptathlon) takes place Wednesday and Thursday (April 18-19, beginning at 9 am each day on the campus of Azusa Pacific University at Cougar Athletic Stadium in Azusa, California. All other events take place on Thursday and Friday (April 19-20).
Non multi-events begin Thursday at 3:40 pm, continuing late into the evening with the final race set to take place at 10:40 pm. The steeplechase and 5,000m will be the events held Thursday. Competition resumes at 9 am on Friday and continues throughout the day, with the last field event set to begin at 4 pm and the final track events scheduled for 8:35 pm. Live results will be available.
Freshman Seren Dances (Port Townsend, WA) will compete in the decathlon on Wednesday and Thursday. The majority of WWU competitors will be in action at the Bryan Clay Invitational on Friday.
Meet Details:
Event: Bryan Clay Invitational
Site: Azusa, CA (Cougar Athletic Stadium)
Date: April 18-20, 2018
Beach Invitational
The Beach Invitational will take place Friday and Saturday (April 20-21) at Jack Rose Track on the campus of Long Beach State University.
Events begin at 8:30 am on Friday and 9 am on Saturday. The last scheduled Friday event is set for 3:45 pm while the last Saturday event will take place close to 6:30 pm. Live results and a FloTrack live stream (subscription required for stream) will be available.
WWU is scheduled to compete at the meet both days, with the majority of Vikings at the Beach Invitational on Saturday.
Meet Details:
Event: Beach Invitational
Site: Long Beach, CA (Jack Rose Track)
Date: April 20-21, 2018
Schedule Update
WWU was originally scheduled to compete at the Mt. Sac Relays as well during the trip to California and has competed at all three meet locations during the weekend in past years. However, in a recent scheduled update, the Vikings will not compete at the Mt. Sac Relays this weekend.
LAST WEEK
For the second consecutive meet, the WWU men and women each took home team titles at the SMU Jay Hammer Meet. The WWU women were 1st of 19 teams while the WWU men placed 1st of 17 teams. Among the field of teams were four other Great Northwest Athletic Conference at the large meet with over 500 student-athletes during a rainy Saturday in Lacey, Washington.
A week earlier, WWU had claimed team wins at the WWU Invitational at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.
At Saint Martin's, the Vikings posted three events wins and 12 top-3 finishes on the women's side, including four program top-10 marks, along with three events wins and 16 top-3 finishes on the men's side.
Freshman Shawnee Konrad (Mead, WA/Mount Spokane) won the 800m (2:21.48) while junior Maddie Taylor (Seattle, WA/Auburn Mountainview/Montana) took top honors in the high jump at a clearance of 1.61m (5-3 ¼). Sophomore Jewels Oliquiano (Kaneohe, HI/Castle) led a 1-2-3 placing for the Vikings in winning the pole vault at a height of 3.19m (10-5 ½).
Program top-10 efforts were recorded by junior Savannah Smith (Renton, WA), junior Emily Sytsma (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian/Concordia), sophomore Chanelle Eddy (Bellingham, WA/Sehome/Whitworth) and freshman Kiana Schwendeman (Bonney Lake, WA).
Smith and Sytsma each added program top-10 times in the 200m, with Smith placing 2nd (25.32) and Sytsma finishing 3rd (25.50). Smith bettered her previous top time of 25.39, remaining 5th on the top-10 list while Sytsma's time ranks 9th.
Eddy placed 2nd in the shot put 12.48m (40-11 ½) for the No. 6 mark on the WWU top-10 list. Schwendeman placed 5th in the hammer throw at a distance of 47.85m (157-0), moving from 6th to 4th on the top-10 list.
For the men, sophomore Cordell Cummings (Arlington, WA) placed 1st in the 400m hurdles in a time of 55.94 while junior Kyler Sager (Snohomish, WA/Everett CC) finished 1st in the 1,500m in a time of 3:57.60. Freshman Bryce Bryant-Leat (Spokane, WA/Lewis and Clark) had a 1st-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 14.94m (49-0 ¼).
Click to view a recap and full results from the SMU Jay Hammer Meet.
AMONG THE RANKED
The WWU women are ranked No. 32 in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings and have been among the top 25 multiple weeks during the season. The WWU men are No. 73 nationally and No. 9 in the West Region, while the women rank No. 10 in the region.
BY THE NUMBERS
Among WWU outdoor top-10 lists, the Vikings have added 19 marks currently on the outdoor WWU top-10 lists (13 for the women, six for the men) during the season.
The Vikings also have 69 marks ranking among the top 10 in the GNAC (41 for the men, 28 for the women and), including 23 among the top five (14 for the men, nine for the women), with four GNAC-leading performances. Click to view the GNAC performance lists.
Last Saturday's meet at Saint Martin's featured 45 season-best marks for the Vikings.
Through seven weeks and nine meets during the outdoor season, six Vikings have recorded provisional-qualifying marks -- four for the women and two for the men. Five of the six provisional-qualifying marks are in the javelin (three on the women's side, two on the men's side) as well as one mark in the pole vault from 2017 All-American Anna Paradee.
WWU NCAA II PROVISIONAL QUALIFYING PERFORMANCES |
Name | Event | Mark | NCAA II Ranking | 2018 GNAC Rank | Notable |
Anna Paradee | Pole Vault | 3.97m (13-0 ¼) | 5th | 1st | PR (4.01m, 13-1 ¾) is GNAC/school record |
Raquel Pellecer | Javelin | 47.91m (157-2) | 4th | 1st | No. 7 WWU history/No. 10 GNAC history |
Natalie Vetto | Javelin | 44.61m (146-4) | 11th | 3rd | PR |
Hannah Nienaber | Javelin | 42.31m (138-10) | 25th | 9th | PR |
Spencer Claeys | Javelin | 63.05m (206-10) | 15th | 5th | No. 6 WWU history/No. 16 GNAC history |
Alex Barry | Javelin | 64.77m (212-6) | 9th | 2nd | No. 3 WWU history/No. 9 GNAC history |
GNAC HONORS
WWU has been honored with five GNAC weekly awards during the outdoor season, including three honors for Pellecer.
- GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 5): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
- GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
- GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (April 2): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
- GNAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Alex Barry (Jr., Sequim, WA)
- GNAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week (March 12): Bryant Welch (Fr., Burien, WA/Mount Rainier)
COACH HALSELL
Head coach Pee Wee Halsell is in his 31st year at the helm for WWU as the longest tenured coach in WWU history. He has received 33 Coach of the Year honors with 26 league honors, five regional honors, one district honor and one area honor. Halsell has coaches 10 national champions with 95 Vikings earning All-America honors in track and 30 in cross country, along with numerous scholar-athletes in both track & field and cross country.
COMING UP
WWU hosts the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet next Saturday, April 28, at Civic Stadium. A meet page has been established with information.
THE 2018 SCHEDULE
Meet | Date | Location |
Ed Boitano Invitational | March 3 | Baker Stadium (Tacoma, WA) |
PLU Open | March 10 | PLU Track & Field Facility (Parkland, WA) |
SPU Doris Heritage Track Festival | March 24 | West Seattle Stadium (Seattle, WA) |
San Francisco State Distance Carnival | March 30-31 | Chabot College (Hayward, CA) |
Stanford Invitational | March 30-31 | Cobb Track and Angell Field (Stanford, CA) |
UBC Open | March 30-31 | Rashpal Dhillon Oval (Vancouver, BC) |
UPS Shotwell Invitational | March 31 | Baker Stadium (Tacoma, WA) |
WWU Team Invitational | April 6 | Civic Stadium (Bellingham, WA) |
SMU Jay Hammer Meet | April 14 | SMU Track & Field Complex (Lacey, WA) |
Brian Clay Invitational | April 18-20 | Cougar Athletic Stadium (Azusa, CA) |
Beach Invitational | April 20-21 | Jack Rose Track (Long Beach, CA) |
WWU Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet | April 28 | Civic Stadium (Bellingham, WA) |
GNAC Multi Championships | April 30-May 1 | Brian and Nichole Bohner Track (Nampa, ID) |
Ken Shannon Invitational | May 4-5 | Husky Stadium (Seattle, WA) |
GNAC Championships | May 11-12 | McArthur Field (Monmouth, OR) |
NCAA Championships | May 24-26 | Irwin Belk Complex (Charlotte, NC) |
